At the present time, dashboards are generally constituted by a panel formed by an insert of moulded plastic or metallic material, or of dished sheet metal, possibly covered with a skin.
They define a shell-shaped screen, locally provided with openings, and thus serve, in particular, to conceal, in the cavity defined between the front body panel of the vehicle and the shell, numerous housings and/or conduits, capable of supporting the equipment, instruments and accessories and air conditioning systems and/or electrical systems provided in this area.
The housing or conduits are, most often, secured to the dashboard on their rear faces, with some of them emerging in the area of the openings.
Those devices presently known thus have the disadvantage of being difficult to manufacture. A large number of operations are needed, in fact, to install the housings and/or conduits. In addition, to effect such mounting operations it is necessary to turn the dashboards round and/or to carry out operations `blind`.
Numerous dashboards thus produced therefore present an appreciable number of defects or examples of faulty workmanship, and additional work has to be carried out on them, which further increases their cost.
IT can also be noted that presently known dashboards are fragile to a certain extent, in particular on account of contrasts in thickness between thin areas and thicker areas of the panels that form them.
The object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks and makes it possible to reduce the number of operations needed to install this part of the vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard that enables mounting to be effected without turning the dashboards round and without having to work `blind`.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard that facilitates the repair of the different items of instruments and accessories and/or equipment provided in this area by favouring access thereto and/or their removal
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard that makes it possible to reduce the number of parts to be used to form, mount and/or operate the different items of instruments and accessories and/or equipment provided in this area.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle dashboard that can be used in different models without having to make numerous changes to adapt it.
One advantage of the present invention is that it provides a vehicle dashboard with increased strength.
Another advantage of the present invention is that it provides a vehicle dashboard that makes it possible to reduce the noise level inside the passenger compartment of the vehicle.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will emerge in the course of the description that follows, which is given only by way of illustration and is not intended to limit same.